For some, the idea of a “winter garden” is an oxymoron, a horticultural contradiction in terms using two words so deeply and incontrovertibly incompatible that to put them side by side is a nonsense.
But a brilliant new book by British photographer Andrew Montgomery and garden writer Clare Foster puts that idea firmly to bed by celebrating the elegant, pared-back beauty of the garden during these quieter months of the year, from the sculptural quality of seed heads and topiary to the delicate tracery of bare branches silhouetted against a winter sky.
Self-published by Montgomery through his freshly minted publishing company Montgomery Press (more about that later), Winter Gardens is a lavishly illustrated, exceptionally beautiful book where Foster's thoughtful, knowledgeable, polished text provides the perfect accompaniment to Montgomery's deeply atmospheric, near-monochromatic photographs.
Twelve great gardens feature within its pages, the stories of their creation told as a series of finely crafted essays that begins with early winter and the theme of gentle decay, and proceeds to midwinter and a contemplation of silhouette and structure, before concluding with late winter and the “shy flowering” of January and February. Interlaced throughout are a series of bite-sized, hands-on pieces where Foster takes an incisive look at some of the key elements used within each of these wonderful winter gardens.
Its celebration of great horticulture aside, Winter Gardens is a photographic tour-de-force, an exquisite collector’s item that showcases Montgomery’s exceptional artistry both as a photographer and a maker of books.
Shot intensively during the second lockdown of early 2021 using a lightweight Fujifilm GFX 50R medium format camera and his two favourite lenses (63mm and 30mm), printed on the finest quality paper and using the finest quality inks, every page of this 320-page publication is a testimony to his perfectionism right down to the unwaxed jacket cover and the matt “varnish” used on each page to preserve the quality of the images.
Known for a distinctively pared-back style of garden photography that echoes the subtle elegance of the pre-digital era, Montgomery says his work is all about recreating the sort of aesthetic that you get from shooting on film. “That softness, that subtlety. So while I now shoot digitally, I process every digital image file in the same way I would once have printed from negatives.”
I had to finance the printing, which was terrifying, especially as my usual income as a photographer had taken a battering during the lockdowns
Was it his perfectionism that drove him to choose the route of self-publishing? “Yes, definitely. While I’ve worked with many different publishers over the years, I’d already gone down the self-publishing route with a previous book [on Petersham Nurseries] because I wanted control of every aspect from the layout and design to the quality of the printing. And that worked out very well. With Winter Gardens I wanted to make the sort of book that I knew no conventional publishing house would take a gamble on, just in case it didn’t sell enough copies to cover costs. I wanted it to feel as beautiful to the touch as it looks, using the very best quality materials, where I got to choose the images and the way they are used.”
It was all, he admits, a giant leap of faith. “I had to finance the printing, which was terrifying, especially as my usual income as a photographer had taken a battering during the lockdowns.”
Photographing gardens in the depths of winter was also physically gruelling, working in bone-chilling weather that quickly drained the batteries on his camera and meant the equipment needed to be allowed time to gradually acclimatise to the low temperatures to prevent problems with condensation. Time limitations were another obstacle. “You only have a brief opportunity to photograph elements such as frost, snow and fog before conditions inevitably change. With one particular garden, I had to visit it four times before I got the shots I needed.
"It also took months for the printed books to arrive by boat from China, which was nail-biting stuff as it just kept getting delayed and delayed." They finally arrived just four days before the book launch on November 4th. "When I got to actually hold a physical copy in my hands, I was so relieved and excited that my heart was pounding."
I've been blown away by people's response... how people have responded to the book when they hold it in their hands, how they comment on the touch and feel and quality of it
But he needn't have worried. The reaction has been so overwhelmingly positive that the first print run sold out by Christmas, with orders flooding in from all corners of the world including New Zealand, the US and Japan. "I've been blown away by people's response. Not just to the photography and Clare's wonderful text, but also how people have responded to the book when they hold it in their hands, how they comment on the touch and feel and quality of it."
Another print run is now in the process (due for delivery in May), as well as two signed special edition versions that come with an exclusive A4 photographic print, all of which can be pre-ordered from his website, montgomerypress.co.uk.
Those who want a gardening book that reads as beautifully as it looks and feels will also relish Winter Gardens for Foster’s illuminating, informative text, which expertly captures the atmosphere and ambience of each garden while sharing plenty of dirt-under-the-fingernails advice on how gardeners can create their own little slice of winter beauty.
In the case, for example, of Sussex Prairie Garden in West Sussex, an eight-acre garden famous for its naturalistic planting style and use of large drifts of contemporary perennnials, the ornamental grasses Calamagrostis “Karl Foerster”, Panicum “Squaw”, Molinia “Heidebraut” and Miscanthus “Ghana” are some of the varieties singled out for their outstanding ability to provide winter interest.
In the case of Hillside, the 19-acre country garden of the well-known British garden designer and writer Dan Pearson (who also wrote the book's preface), it's the turn of umbelliferous species to go under Foster's spotlight as she explains the ways their flowers – think of upturned umbrellas – provide enduring seasonal interest in the shape of architectural winter silhouettes.
Another celebrated British garden that features is Mapperton in Dorset, famed for its giant specimens of topiary yews that have been primped and pruned into pieces of living statuary and are expertly tended by its head gardener Steve Lannin. His knowledge of how to prune, feed and renovate yew topiary is also distilled by Foster at the end of that particular chapter while Montgomery's photographs do an exceptional job of capturing the special theatre and magic of this historic garden.
Among the other excellent bite-sized guides to winter interest provided by Foster in the book is a list of some of the world's best topiary gardens; tips on growing great witch hazels, inspired by designer Arabella Lennox Boyd's collection of these beautiful late-winter flowering shrubs in her 10-acre garden Gresgarth Hall in Scotland; a look at growing snowdrops; a list of some of the late Christopher Lloyd's favourite scented winter shrubs in the gardens of Great Dixter; and useful tips by Benjamin Pope (the head gardener of a majestic walled garden in East Sussex designed by Arne Maynard) on how to maintain box hedging so that it stays healthy, bushy and happy.
In short, this is one of those special books that anyone with a love of gardens and photography is sure to treasure.
This Week in the Garden
Sort through old stores of seed and group them into their ideal sowing dates. Check the expiry dates marked on the back of the packets and discard any that are a couple of years past the dates marked as these are generally unlikely to have good germination rates.
As long as the ground isn't frozen or waterlogged, this is a good time of year to move deciduous shrubs. Just bear in mind that the larger/older the plant, the harder it will be to move it successfully both in terms of its weight and size and how well it will re-establish a viable root system. For this reason, it's best to prepare large specimens a year in advance by "trenching" around the root systems. Smaller/ younger specimens need to be moved quickly, making sure to preserve a good/ large root ball during excavation and preparing the new planting hole in advance. See rhs.org.uk for step-by-step instructions.
Dates for your Diary
February 26th, 2022: GLDA seminar Plan Trees, Plant Trees, Planet Trees; Creative Design with Trees in our Landscape, Streetscape and Gardens takes place online as a livestreamed event with a range of guest speakers, tickets from €45-€70 can be booked online at glda.ie
